Expert Believes Baton Rouge Could Have Another Serial Killer

November 3, 2003 at 11:55 PM CST - Updated June 24 at 6:03 PM

An LSU forensic social worker says there is very strong reason to believe that a serial killer is responsible for the deaths of two women who lived similar lifestyles on the streets of Baton Rouge. However, Dr. Cecile Guin says it is strange that Baton Rouge would be the target of yet another serial killer. The latest killings involve Johnnie Mae Williams and Katherine Hall.

Authorities have not said there is a second serial killer in Baton Rouge, but Dr. Guin studies people who kill and says it is clear to her that someone has been targeting a certain population of women for quite some time.

Their lifestyles have been described as "high-risk" and until recently their deaths were low profile. But authorities now believe one person murdered both Williams in October of 2003 and Hall in 1999. Dr. Guin and her student worker Erin Brown have been studying the cases of Hall and Williams as well as other unsolved murders of women who lived high risk lives. Dr. Guin says there is such thing as a mission driven killer.

"A lot of times this person is motivated by a desire to kill somebody that in their perspective is not worthy of staying on earth with the rest of us," said Dr. Guin.

At least a dozen women who frequented the North Street area were later found dead like Hall and Williams. Their murders have never been solved. Dr. Guin says the more you learn about the victims the more insight you can gain about the killer.

"This is not somebody who went away or just recently came here. He's been here for a while," said Dr. Guin. "It seems like it would be somebody familiar with the victims and familiar with the area. He has his mode of operation pretty well spelled out. If you look at the map of where the women lived and where they were found there's a lot of similarity."

However, authorities have not linked any of the murders to each other or to Hall and Williams. Dr. Guin says according to the research she has studied, serial killings occur more frequently in the south than anywhere else in the country, but says there is no definitive reason as to why.